Rant & Roll 4: 95percent... c'mon rawkstars where's that 5%?

http://95percent.com.my/main/95-the-advertising-academy/idea-rawkstarrs/

I love doing community service at 95percent
If there's one thing i learnt
I owe it to the people who've given their all to make me a better adperson
to make a difference in someone else's life too

Janet Lee's a great mentor to the young uns
Peter Gan's the war vet that's seen it all - and yet still comes across patient and paternal
If you're looking for a grooming school before getting into the meat-grinder that's the ad industry... there's no better place to start

so before i continue pimping them too much, let's get to the low-down.

(honestly, i only get paid a notebook every time i show up
but the notebooks are priceless for me thoughts and scribbles
certainly cheaper than one of my writer's moleskin)

Subject: 9 students
Topic: develop a strat deck

I had the privilege of sharing the panel with Joseph Icannotrememberhissurname,
Strat Head at DraftFCB.
So being a creative person, of course i'll let the pro do most of the talking
and honestly
the questions he threw at them
would've daunted the most seasoned strat/creative/suit if they were unprepared

which brings me to my next point
preparation!

I still don't understand why strat presentations have to be so dry
probably because there isn't any creative input into it
so as i'm writing this in vain hopes that more people will read my blog postings
i'm also talking to myself, noting the lessons i've picked up

might as well do it in pointform:

1. strat. in any agency marketing tool speak is essentially salad dressing for these two words: 'common sense'. If it isn't. Then it's your job to make it so. You have to convince the clients with your strat that it's plain 'common sense' that this is the strategic direction, and that i would be an idiot to think otherwise!

2. strat. in any agency marketing tool speak can actually be simplified to 5Ws and a H. Who, Where, Why, When, What and How. In no particular order. The only reason agency networks complicate the above is to make themselves sound like the only people ever to invent it. And therefore convince the clients that they can't live without them. A bit like choosing one beef burger over the other. The essential ingredients are the same.

3. strat. should always lead to selling the big idea. everything else that you put in your strat deck that doesn't do so, should be taken out.

4. strat. is the idea. the idea is the strat. just do it was a strat. impossible is nothing is a strat. ultimate driving machine's a strat. and they're all big ideas too. so stop thinking of strat as the foreign alien domain of 'the planners'.

5. strat. is what every ad person should inherently possess. suits will write better briefs. creatives will be better creatively. and strat people, well they won't have jobs. which should be the case anyway because it's because of the lack of strat inherent in suits and creatives that's giving them this fat paycheck called common sense. don't feel bad for them. they can always be clients. which means we could be selling better ads as a whole, cause we're not hoarding all the best people in the ad industry.

so in conclusion. Idea Rawkstarrs. you've got all the ingredients to make a beef burger.

some of you have toasted the buns. some have made the dressing. some have even grilled the beef. but nobody's giving the panel a nice tasty fresh off the grill beef burger with maya, egg and double cheese patty, extra mustard, no cabbages please.

better start cooking.